Rheinmetall awarded major simulation system contracts

(25 August 2006) -- The Rheinmetall Group of Dusseldorf has recently booked orders from Germany, Switzerland and Thailand for simulation systems worth some EUR50 million. Once again, these three nations have turned to the Group's Bremen-based subsidiary Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH for advanced simulation technology for training their troops.

The German Army has contracted with Rheinmetall to modernize the system technology of the operations centre of its GUZ combat training facility at Altmark in Saxony-Anhalt, which first entered service in 1997. Among other things, the upgrade package also includes a regeneration of the TETRA wireless system and installation of new high-performance networks and communication servers.

The company has received two orders from Switzerland: an electronic gunnery training system (ELSA) as well as system extensions for its artillery simulation technology.
ELSA will be employed in Switzerland for training infantry fighting vehicle and armoured artillery command vehicle crews, as well as for teaching troops to operate target acquisition and observation equipment used by the Swiss Army's Artillery Corps.
The series scope of delivery includes a system with eight vehicle mock-ups of the CV9030 infantry fighting vehicle as well as another with four mock-ups of the armoured artillery command vehicle, plus target acquisition and observation equipment.
In Thailand Rheinmetall will upgrade an existing TACOS I gunnery and combat simulator. TACOS II will give the Thai military the most advanced networked simulation centre for ground forces in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

The TACOS I simulation centre entered service in Thailand back in 1998. Like its predecessor, the new system consists of five true-to-life mock-ups of the fighting compartment of the M60 A3 main battle tank used for gunnery and combat training. In addition, TACOS II will feature five state-of-the-art driving simulators with electrical movement systems, suitable not only for entry-level driver's training but also for driving licence training at all relevant exercise units.

An important new feature of the order is the networking of both TACOS simulation units to form a joint virtual world. Starting in 2008, ten four-man tank crews, consisting of the commander, gunner, driver and loader, will be able to act out numerous scenarios in a networked environment.